Permission to reproduce this image for other than personal use must be requested from the Director of the Madison-Jefferson County Public Library. Please contact at 420 W. Main St., Madison, IN 47250 (812) 265-2744.

Source

Madison-Jefferson County Public Library

Identifier

"MJCPLriver5096-hillcity"

Notes

Additional information: On March 28, 1896 at St. Louis, a great, black cloud loomed menacingly over the city. The "City of Monroe" chanced to be moored at the Anchor Line wharf-boat, ready to start on her regular trip to New Orleans. She was heavily laden with freight and passengers. The happy and expectant crowd was waiting to start their journey when a swirling tempest swept down upon the boat. It was wrenched from its moorings and drifted helplessly at the storm's mercy. After a brief struggle, the boat drifted to the Illinois side of the river and she was there made secure. There was not loss of life but the "City of Monroe" had been dealt a terrible blow. Her upper works had been destroyed but her sturdy hull had held against the onslaught. In early March of 1897 Captain David Barmore of Madison, Indiana contracted with the New Orleans and St. Louis Anchor Line to lengthen their steamer "City of Monroe" and change her hull and cabin in many ways to make her the finest steamer on the western waters. The steamer "Gate City" was to tow her from St. Louis to Madison for that purpose. The "Gate City" arrived at Madison with the "City of Monroe" on April 4 and the next day her wheel-house was dismantled. Her new dimensions would make her second only to the "City of New Orleans". The Madison Courier reported on April 24, 1897, "The City of Monroe's fine staterooms are the most capacious we have seen, being more commodious than many family bedrooms." The work progressed and on June 16 the Madison Courier stated, "She is 320 feet long and across decks 80 feet 8 inches over all. She is too large to go through the canal, so will have to catch water on the falls when she goes." On June 28, 1897 the paper reported, " Captain Barmore's workmen are putting the finishing touches on the new steamer Hill City, formerly the Anchor Line steamer City of Monroe. It is estimated that it will take five tons of lead, coal oil, etc. to make the mixture and require the labor of twenty men." On July 14 the local inspectors looked her over and officially pronounced the "Hill City" fit for duty. She arrived in New Orleans just befor midnight Saturday, August 7, 1897. She sank below Memphis in November 1900 but was raised. In 1903 she became an excursion boat under the name "Corwin H. Spencer". She burned above Jefferson Barracks, Missouri in 1905. Source: Madison Courier- March 9 through August 9, 1897